In September 1895, the Iowa State College football team boarded a train for its first game outside the state of Iowa, a matchup with Butte Athletic Club in Montana. The team lost. Later in the month it played its first “real” college football team out of state, Northwestern in Evanston, a 36-0 win — the game that gave the Cyclones their nickname.
Since then, the Cyclones have played football games in 33 states including Iowa. The most recent additions were Connecticut in 2011 and Idaho in 2002. When the Cyclones play in Morgantown on Saturday, that will make West Virginia the 35th state, and one that will be returned to every other year for conference games.
For comparison, the Iowa Hawkeyes have played in 24 states plus DC. Next year’s game at Maryland will add that state to the list.
The closest state to Iowa that the Cyclones haven’t played in is Indiana — which is the Hawkeyes’ third-most played-in state behind Iowa and Illinois.